This paper is the subject of a dual presentation, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature ot the research. Its coverage includes linguistics, translation sciences, cognitive psychology and neurosciences. Here, the transalation process is examined from all those points of view. More precisely, the purpose of this paper is to study how a conference interpreter can succeed in carrying out two apparently overlapping tasks: to build meaning and to produce meaning. To this end, several theories and models are discussed, including relevance theory, dual task theory, attention ans selective screening models, memory models.